Improvement in presser-feet for sewing-machines



CHARLES TURNER, OF LYNN, ASSIGNOR TO M. H. MERRIAM AND E. L. NORTON, OFBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN PRESSER-FEET FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 192,5416, dated June26, 1877; application liled May 19, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES TURNER, of Lynn, in the county of Essex andState of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Presser-Foot forSewing-Machines, of which the following is a specification:

This invention relates to presser-feet for sewing-machines, and hasspecial reference to a foot provided with a large central groove orrecession, as hereinafter described, with faces adjacent thereto tobearupon the upper sides.

of the stay-strip. and with ledges to guide and retain a stay-strip(preferably a folded strip) while being stitched near its edges to aboot or shoe, to cover a seam.

Stay-strips made of leather of a single thickness, and also of strips ofleather folded at their edges, have been commonly applied to cover theseams of boots and shoes, and folded strips have been commonly embossedor depressed or grooved for the reception of stitches, as well as forthe covering of a raised part between.

In practice it is very desirable that the two rows of stitching unitingthe opposite edges of the stay-strip to the shoe at each side the scambe sunk below the level of the surface of the strip at each side of suchstitches, so as to protect the stitches from abrasive wear.

In shoe work it is common to sew the uppers together, so that the ridgeof the seam, or the ends of the pieces of leather outside the seam, lienext the foot, and also so that they turn out away from the foot.

My presser-foot is more especially designed to apply a stay-strip to theridge of the seam, it being turned outward next the stay-strip.

My improved foot is grooved at its under side to form vertical walls toguide the edges of the stay-strip then substantially at right angles tosuch walls are horizontal faces, extended ashort distance toward thecenter of the foot, and between these faces the presserfoot is providedwith a concaved recession, sufficient in extent to receive the seamridgeand central portion of the stay bent or lapped about the underlyingseam-ridge, the strip then rising into the concaved recession, androunding upward some distance above and higher than the surface of thestrip at its edges.

Making the central recession deeper than the recessions at each sidethereof, in which move. the edges or those portions of the strip outsidethe lines of scam, is a matter of great practical importance. If thebottom of the central recession were on a level with the recessions atthe side thereof which bear upon the upper edges of the strip, then thecentral portion of the strip could not be shaped and rounded uniformlyover the ridge of the seam, and be held down upon the material to whichthe stay-strip is being united, close to the seam-ridge.

It is inevitable in a folded leather stay-strip that the strip at itsfolded edges will be thicker than twice the thickness of the materialforming the strip before it was folded. Consequently the upper and lowersurfaces of the strip at its extreme folded edges, if the strip be heldat its central portion, will project above and below the planes of thecentral portion of the strip at bottom and top, as in Fig. 5. Such astrip placed upon a plane surface will assume a form substantially as inFig. 6, wherein all the excess of thickness of the strip at the foldededge is projected above the upper plane of the strip.

Three things contribute to form a recession or channel-way for thereception and protection of the stitches, viz: the expansion of thefolded edge or bight of the stay-strip projected outward the tension ofthe thread in stitching within the bight; and the elevation of thecentral portion of the stay-strip over the underlying seam for a greaterdistance than the portions of the foot that bear on the upper portionsof the stay-strip at its upper side edges.

Figure 1 represents a plan view of a presser-foot constructed inaccordance with my invention; Fig. 2, an under-side View thereof; Fig.3, a cross-section thereof; Fig. 4, a crosssection of a stay-stripapplied to a seam in a boot or shoe, my improved foot having beenemployed to guide and to form the stay-strip over an underlying seam orprojection, and to hold the sides of the same about the seam; Figs. 5and 6, cross-sections of a stay-strip of ordinary construction beforeand after being stitched.

The foot herein shown'is adapted to Howe i machine. Its central portionis grooved lougitudinally at ct, to receive the central portion of thestay-strip b and cover the ridge 0 of the seam without lifting the edges(1 e of the under surface of the foot from contact with the material fof the shoe. The ledges or faces 9 h bear upon the sides of thestay-strip beyond the seam, and the walls "6 act as guides for itsextreme side edges.

The needle-hole 7' permits the needle to penetrate and stitch the stayjust within the folded bight at the edge of the stay, at n, therebyleaving the outside edge of the strip above thesurface of the stitches.

The groove a permits the center of the strip to be raised by theseam-ridge a considerable distance above the edges of the strip, andsuch raised center part forms a surface between the two rows of stitcheshigher than the surface of the stitches, and the thread rawn taut in theformation of the stitches is consequently placed in a channel orguideway, where it is protected.

The faces g h, resting upon the upper portion of the strip, hold theunder side of the stay at its edges in close contact with the ma terialof the boot or shoe on each side of the seam being covered.

I claim- 1. A sewing-machine presser-foot provided at its bottom with alongitudinal recess, a. to receive the center of a staystrip pressedupward therein by the ridge of a seam to which the stay is beingapplied, and with ledges or faces at the edges of the recess lower thanthe central recess, to rest upon and extend to the edges of thestay-strip, and with a needle-passage to permit a needle to penetratethe staystrip between its outside edge and its more elevated central orseam-covering portion, in order that stitches may be formed below thesurfaces of the stay-strip, substantially as described.

2. A sewing-machine presser-foot provided with a longitudinal centralgroove, to receive the center of a stay-strip and allow it to bulgeupward therein when applied to cover a seam, and with ledges or faces 9h at the sides thereof, to bear upon the upper edges of the stay-stripat a lower level than the central portion of the foot, and withedge-guides to guide the outside edges of the strip, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES TURNER. Witnesses:

G. W. GREGORY, E O. PERKINS.

